Thursday 26 May 2011 16.10 EDT
First published on Thursday 26 May 2011 16.10 EDT

Kumar Sangakkara escaped the political machinations of the Sri Lanka captaincy when he resigned after the World Cup final but in his first game back in the ranks he walked straight into a spot of controversy at the Swalec Stadium .

Life may be more straightforward for Sangakkara after he handed over control of the Sri Lanka cricket team – it could hardly be any more difficult – but he had batted for only 16 balls when his dismissal, caught at the wicket against Jimmy Anderson after a successful England referral, reminded him that life's little problems will remain.

Matt Prior, England's wicketkeeper, was confident that Sangakkara had edged the ball, but then Prior would fill the air with an appeal if he heard as much as a sparrow's cough. Sangakkara stood his ground, waiting to see what technology might reveal. Hot Spot also showed a white mark as the ball passed the outside edge, enough for the third umpire, Rod Tucker, to overrule the on-field umpire Aleem Dar.

Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka's new captain, had no complaints. "Technology showed a mark," he said. "I'm more disappointed with the way that I played a bad shot and got out." Dilshan, at 34, has played only 12 Tests outside the sub-continent, if you also exclude Zimbabwe, and averages only 34, but he looked schooled in English conditions until he attempted a furtive chop shot against Graeme Swann and played on.

Sangakkara's last toss of a coin as Sri Lanka captain was awash with controversy. He called "heads" in the World Cup final but the match referee did not hear him because of the din in the Wankhede Stadium and instructed that the toss was made a second time.

For a fleeting moment when Dilshan won the toss at the Swalec and took the courageous decision to bat, one wondered if there had been another mix-up. Not that there was much noise about other than wind billowing through rainwear. From the moment that Sri Lanka saw the groundsman give the pitch a final cut yesterday morning and decided to include a second spinner, Ajantha Mendis, they were committed to bowling last.

Glamorgan, incidentally, whose ability to attract large Test crowds to Cardiff is bound to be debated in the days ahead, stressed that although only 6,000 spectators turned up, they had sold 9,000 tickets. An unwillingness of one spectator in three to risk the weather may be explained by official analysis that suggests about half of Glamorgan's Test tickets are sold to supporters from across the border, presumably all of them still alive.

At 13C, it was as chill a day as some of the younger Sri Lankans had ever experienced and after a malevolent breeze had rasped showers across the ground, Anderson suggested that the surface had more life than England had anticipated. But Dilshan was a thin Sangakkara edge away from concluding that his first day as captain had turned out pretty well.